Sunday, March 18, 2018

There once was a man who had achieved much in his life. He lived in a comfortable home and was surrounded by all the things he had accumulated over the years. He had little want in his life, he had everything he needed and more. Yet, there was something missing, and he had begun to realize it. He had heard about this God-man named Jesus and felt drawn to meet him. After inquiring about him, he finally met some people who knew of him, and he had asked for an introduction. It wasn’t long and the man finally had his encounter with Jesus. Jesus welcomed him with a loving embrace and sensed that the man was desiring more in his life. The man asked, “Jesus, I long to feel peace and love in my life. What am I to do to feel complete and fulfilled?” Without hesitation, Jesus replied, “You are to purge your life of the all the things of this world, seek out and pick up your cross, and come and follow me.” The man listened intently to the commanding words. However, the words were not the words he was expecting to hear. The message was clear and simple, yet he felt somewhat confused and worried. He knew that Jesus would not give false or misleading advice, but he needed to understand what he was being told much more deeply. He was being asked to do something so radical, and so courageous, that it was frightening. He needed time to think. He didn’t want to act impulsively. This was too big of a decision to not think it through carefully. So, he separated from Jesus and returned home, and settled back into his comfortable life and familiar surroundings. He listened to the words of Jesus in his mind and pondered them over and over again. It didn’t take long and he knew that Jesus was right in saying that in order to find true meaning in his life, to feel fulfilled, and to find peace, love, and happiness, he would need to separate himself from the things of this world, and grow ever closer to God, but he hesitated to act. He began to think about how hard he had worked to acquire all the possessions he had. He thought about how important those things were to him, and what life would be like without them. He thought about how comfortable his life was, and how he had settled in his ways. He thought about the things in life that brought him pleasure, even if it was temporary and superficial pleasure. It didn’t take long and his inspiration to grow closer to Christ began to soften and fade. The more he thought about the comforts of his life, the more absurd giving it all up sounded. That initial inspiration towards holiness soon evaporated and he was once again immersed in his world of self-pleasure, self-centeredness, and self-delight. The opportunity to respond to God’s grace and to a life with Christ began to disappear from his thoughts. He had come so close to embarking on a journey with Christ, a journey that would have ensured everlasting life, a life filled with such purpose, such love, such peacefulness, yet, using his free will, and the powers of rationalization, he abandoned such a radical move. He had purposefully separated himself from Christ, and the chance to live a profoundly Christian life. He chose to return to his secular life. He had the opportunity to die to himself and become reborn, experiencing the fruitfulness of such a life, sharing the fruit, the growth of such love, forgiveness, purity, and honesty with others, yet, he threw it all away and now is heading toward a life without Christ. A life void of deep meaning, void of sincere and everlasting relationships, a life that doesn’t perpetuate life, and a life that adds no flavor to the lives of others. He had his opportunity but chose to throw it away. He will one day be judged for that act, and the repercussions might just be something unthinkable. He had chosen to separate himself from Christ, even when personally called to join Him, and now may live all of eternity in the absence of God.

All of eternity in the absence of God.

My dear friends, this man that I just spoke of is actually many of us here in this church today. We are all sinners. We have all had an encounter with Christ, and have been repeatedly asked to remove the obstacles that are in our lives and get in the way of our relationship with Him, and have been asked to join Him. Yet, even though temporarily inspired at times, many of us quickly turn away from Him and resume all of the secular activities of our lives, focusing on ourselves and losing sight of Him. We have all been drawn to Christ. We have heard his voice. We have been told what we must do if we truly desire to follow Him.

We are to die to ourselves, our own self-interests, our own self-desires, and live the life of Christ.

We are to know and live the commandments.

We are to know and the live the beatitudes.

We are to pick up our crosses and see Christ in all those around us and to share the good news of love, life, sacrifice, and salvation, to all those that we meet.

Failing to do so is making a choice. Let us ask ourselves, can we truly live with the choices that we are making?

This time of Lent is a time to open our eyes to the reality of how we have been living our lives. To stop making rationalizations and excuses, and to decide if I am willing to make those radical choices, and to be courageous enough to do what Christ is asking of me. We must never forget that there will be a day when we will see everything as it truly is, and how our decisions have shaped our lives and the lives of others. Are going to be happy with what we see?

Most certainly, we need to humbly ask ourselves these questions:

Have I been the man or woman that God created me to be?

Have I been the friend that I was called to be?

Have I been the brother or sister that God and others needed me to be?

Have I been the husband or wife that God longed for me to be?

Have I been the Father or Mother that the children desired me to be?

For many of us, the answers will be no. We have failed ourselves and others incredibly. We have caused damage that is unbelievable. By not acting, we have allowed evil to flourish in the world around us. Yet, there is still time to act if we begin today. Let us begin today to stop making excuses and to embrace the opportunity to follow Christ. The hour has come to die to ourselves, and to live in Christ. Being Catholic is about being humble, asking for forgiveness with a sorrowful and contrite heart, and using the Sacraments given to us by Christ himself to heal, inspire, and nourish us. We are to be continually improving our prayer life, and our relationship with Christ. We are to be reacting to the prompts of the Holy Spirit and growing in union with our Lord. We are to become holy and to be a radical presence in this world. Christ did not fit into this world, and neither should we. We are of this world, but we belong to another kingdom, the kingdom of God. Let us begin today, to live as we were created to live, as children of God. Remembering that dying to self, means, living in Christ. Let us authentically, and radically, live in Christ, beginning now.

As Saint Teresa of Calcutta once said, “You must never be afraid to be a sign of contradiction to the world.”

Jesus has called you. He has shown you the way. Now it’s your turn, the choice is yours.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

I
remember the day that Jerry died, as Mary held his hand. She wept. Oh how she
wept as she clung to his body in the hopes of somehow not losing the 57 years
of married life they had lived and loved together. The kids tried to console
her, but it was of little use. She just needed to cry until she couldn’t cry
anymore. The pain and the emptiness were much deeper than what I could ever have
imagined. She spent the next days and weeks longing for Jerry more than she had
ever longed for anything in her entire life. She so wanted him to come back that
every creak of the floorboard, and shadow around the corner, made her heart
leap in hope.

Regrettably, I lost
track of Mary, but did bump into her again about a year later. She was still
sad, but not as desperate as the last time I had seen her. I inquired how she
was doing and she told me about the day that made all the difference. She said she
had gone to Church and she was sitting all alone in the pew staring at the
crucifix above the altar. When all at once it occurred to her that it was not actually
Jerry for whom she longed, but God. The God who she prayed would forgive Jerry’s
sins. The God who would keep her in his grace until the last day. The God who had
gone to prepare a place for Jerry, and for her, and for all who loved others as
he had loved them. And her waiting for Jerry was just a shadow of her deepest
longing for God, her desire for love, and her desire to live in God and to know
peace with him forever.

Don’t we all ache for
God? Don’t we all wait, waiting for something better, just like: The addict in
the alley behind the Gas station who waits for a God who will come and remove
all that enslaves him. How about the single mother who waits for a day when she
no longer has to work fifty-four hours a week, a night when she can sleep 8, a
life when she will finally know the kids will be ok. What about the soldier in
the Middle East who waits for a morning when there are no more explosions, and
every look is not feared as the precursor to an assault, and when he doesn’t
have to bury his new best friend. Or the old man in the nursing home who waits for
the day he will no longer be alone, when pain will no longer be his most
constant companion, and when he can once again rest in the embrace of her whom
he loved. What about the prisoner on death row who waits for a place where he
will no longer be seen as evil, for a life that makes sense, for a time when
love can be given and received, for the coming of a God who will love him. What
about the investment banker who waits for the day when he’s not gripped by the fear
that he’s about to lose everything, for the day when he can count his value in the
quality of his love rather than the size of his profit. Or what about the
little child who waits within her mother’s womb for a world that will welcome
her, and parents that will love her, and a country who will protect her.

As Christians we should
all realize and recognize that we wait in joyful hope, with baited breath, as
we gaze toward the Eastern skies in expectation of the one who rises with healing
in his wings…But Exiled in a Babylon of our own selfishness, we cry out: “Rend
the heavens, O Lord, and come down to us!” Yet he patiently waits for us in
that confessional, ready to embrace us, pick us up on his shoulders, and carry
us home to himself.

Still longing to be
loved, orphaned by our infidelity and broken promises, we cry out, “Why do you
let us wander and harden our hearts?” Yet he patiently waits on that altar, to
feed us with himself and to make us sons and daughters of his Father, to live
in us that we might live in him.

Still frightened that
we have been abandoned, strangers in a strange desert, we cry out: “Let us see
your face and we will be saved!” Yet he patiently waits for us in the poor, the
sick, and the old, ready to console our frightened spirits.

Let us be honest, We all
wait in joyful hope. The part of us that is afraid to confess that secret sin. The
part of us that doesn’t think it’s possible to forgive what ‘that one’ did, or
that God could really forgive me. The part of us that cries in the middle of
the night. The part which feels empty and alone. The part that’s overwhelmed
and confused. The part which amidst all the din and doubt waits…waits in
silence for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ upon a cloud in all his glory.

My dear brothers and
sisters: This is a time for all of us to Wake up and to Get ready. We are to be
watchful and alert! We are to go to confession, We are to celebrate the Holy
and Sacred Mysteries like never before, and we are to pray; to pray deeply and
honestly!

Also, we cannot forget
about those around us. We are to feed and care for the poor. We are to go visit
the prisoners and the old people in nursing homes. We are to find the ones we
have not yet forgiven and call them right now. This is what the season of
Advent is all about. Making our hearts into mangers to receive our king, for He
is coming.

There is but one ultimate question that we need to ask ourselves and ponder: Am I ready…to stand before the One who is Truth Himself, the One who knows my heart completely, the One who has seen everything? Am I ready to meet the Creator of the world, the creator of my soul? Am I.. Truly.. Ready?

Jesus said to them “Listen to another parable.” He could have just said, “Get ready for another confrontation between the Pharisees and me.” Regardless of what you think about the Pharisees you’ve got to give them some credit today.

· They got it.
· They understood the parable.
· They heard Jesus.

“They realized he was talking about them.” Jesus held before them a truth they didn’t like and they wanted to put a stop to it. They wanted to arrest him. This is neither Jesus’ first nor his last confrontation with the Pharisees. Unlike most of us who tend to avoid those with whom we have conflict and confrontation, Jesus doesn’t. He just keeps on coming. At every turn he is offending, aggravating, and confronting the Pharisees.

· He eats with the wrong people.
· He won’t answer their questions.
· He taunts them by breaking the law and healing on the Sabbath.
· He calls them hypocrites and blind leaders.
· He escapes their traps.
· He leaves them speechless.
· He rattles off a string of “woes” against them.
· He even compares them to a disobedient son who will not work in the vineyard.

They just can’t catch a break with Jesus. He never lets up. So what is this really all about?

· Why can’t He just let go of them?
· And what does this have to do with us?

Is Jesus looking for a fight?

· I don’t think so.

Is his primary motivation to expose and condemn those who do not follow him?

· I don’t think so.

Is he keeping score and naming all the attitudes and behaviors of the Pharisees that he considers wrong? Is Jesus trying to exclude from the kingdom of God the religious leaders of his day?

· I don’t think so

Here’s what I think these confrontations are about.

· Jesus is unwilling to give up on the Pharisees, or anyone else for that matter.
· Jesus is unwilling to give up on you or me.
· He just keeps on coming.

That is the good news, hope, and joy in today’s parable.

This is not so much a parable of exclusion or condemnation as it is a parable of Jesus’ unwillingness to give up. His unwillingness to give up on us often confronts us with truth about our lives that is almost always difficult to hear and accept. We might hear his words but do we realize he is taking about us? This parable and the confrontation this parable provokes are like a mirror held before us so that we might see and recognize in ourselves what Jesus sees and recognizes. This is not to condemn us but to recover us from the places of our self-exclusion, to call us back to life, and to lead us home.

Jesus doesn’t exclude us or anyone else from the kingdom of God. He doesn’t have to. We do it to ourselves and we’re pretty good at it. That’s what the Pharisees have done. The Pharisees have excluded themselves. “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you,” Jesus says to them. This is not so much a punishment for failing to produce kingdom fruits. It is, rather, the recognition of what already is. They were given the vineyard and failed to produce and share the fruits of the kingdom. Jesus is just naming the reality, the truth. They have excluded themselves. In the same way, the kingdom of God will be given to those who are already producing kingdom fruits. This is not a reward but a recognition of what already is.

Where the fruit is, there also is the kingdom. If you want to know what the fruits of the kingdom look like then look at the life of God revealed in Jesus Christ. What do you see? Love, intimacy, mercy and forgiveness, justice, generosity, compassion, presence, wisdom, truth, healing, reconciliation, self-surrender, joy, thanksgiving, peace, obedience, and humility. I’m not talking about these things as abstract ideas but as lived realities in the vineyards of our lives.

We’ve all been given vineyards. They are the people, relationships, circumstances and events of our lives that God has entrusted to our care. That means our spouse and marriage, children and family, our work, our church, our daily decisions and choices, our hopes, dreams, and concerns are the vineyards in which we are to reveal the presence and life of God, to produce the fruits of the kingdom.

The vineyards, our work in those vineyards, and the fruit produced come together to show us to be sharers in God’s kingdom; or not. To the degree we are not producing kingdom fruits we have excluded ourselves from and rejected our share in the kingdom. We are living neither as the people God knows us to be nor as the people we truly want to be. In some way we have stepped outside of ourselves and sidestepped our own life. That’s the truth with which Jesus confronted the Pharisees. It’s the same truth with which Jesus confronts us.

You might ask How does this happen? And What does self-exclusion really look like? Here’s what I’m wondering.

· Do you ever struggle with perfectionism, self-condemnation, and the question of whether you’re enough? Maybe that’s self-exclusion.

· Do you ever feel like you have to be in control, be right, have all the answers? Maybe that’s self-exclusion.

· Are you carrying grudges, anger, and resentments?

· Do you look at others and begin making judgments about their beliefs and choices?

· Are there people in your life that you have chosen to let go of rather than do the work of reconciliation and heal the relationship?

· Do you go through life on auto-pilot, going through the motions but never really being present, never showing up?

· In your life is there more criticism and cynicism than thanksgiving and celebration?

· Are you hanging onto some old guilt that you believe could not be forgiven?

The antidote to our self-exclusion from God’s kingdom begins with first recognizing that self-exclusion. That means we must look at the vineyards of our lives. And when we do What do we see?

· How is our garden growing?

· Is there fruit?

· Is there life?

Are we sharing in God’s kingdom? These are all questions that we should and must ask ourselves, and more importantly, we need to honestly answer them. Recognizing how and when we self-exclude ourselves from God and His Kingdom, and then making honest and sincere changes in our lives is the most important thing we can do today to save our lives: our present life, our future life, and most importantly our Eternal Life. (Pause)

Knowing that we are all sinners, Let’s take a moment and ask God to open our eyes, our hearts, and our minds, allowing His grace to enter into us, and pray that He helps us to see, like the Pharisees, just how we have been separating ourselves from the Kingdom of God! Yet, at the same time, we must never forget just how truly loved and desired we are by Christ, and that no matter how many times we fall, no matter how many times we have turned away,

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About Me

I am a Catholic man who has been blessed by God with many things, but most of all with the gift of faith. I was ordained a Catholic Deacon on June 7, 2008. I have a beautiful wife (Liz) who motivates and amazes me each day, as well as 3 great children. I have been managing the Psychiatric Nursing Department of a 99-bed psychiatric facility since early 2000. I feel very blessed with my life and am following a call to serve God's people.